Hotel Wentzl

Hotel Wentzl sits right on the Rynek Glowny, Krakow's Main Market Square, above a restaurant of the same name that dates to 1792. It is a comfortable mid-range hotel, and its main draw is the address: some rooms look straight onto the square. You cannot stay more centrally in the Old Town.

This is a comfortable mid-range hotel set in an old building on the square, with a long-established restaurant below. Some rooms face the Rynek, which is the reason many people book. For current room types, rates and which rooms have a square view, check the hotel's official channels directly rather than any figure quoted elsewhere.

You are on the Main Market Square itself, so the Cloth Hall and St Mary's Basilica are on your doorstep and the rest of the Old Town is a few minutes' walk. Wawel Castle is a short stroll south along Grodzka. For trams, the airport train and day trips, see the Krakow guide.

This suits travellers who want to be right on the square and value the view and the central position over quiet. Couples and first-time visitors who want everything on the doorstep will do well. Light sleepers should note the square stays lively into the evening, so a room facing the courtyard may suit them better than one over the Rynek.

You are at the centre of the Old Town, with the sights all around:

• The Sukiennice, the Cloth Hall running down the middle of the square.
• Main Market Square and its churches and monuments.
• Wawel Castle, a short walk south along Grodzka.

The townhouse dates to the 16th century and was known as 'Under the Blue Lion', after the blue lion on the former owner's coat of arms. The restaurant below was founded in this same building by Jan Wentzl in 1792 and still trades under the family name.

The kitchen now runs across three linked venues under one roof: the main Wentzl Restaurant, the cafe-patisserie Slodki Wentzl and the Italian Da Pietro. Upstairs it stays deliberately small, a boutique property of period-furnished rooms rather than a large hotel, so booking ahead for a square-facing room is worth doing through the hotel's official channels.